With the rapid increase in Light Emitting Diode (LED) efficacies for high powered LEDs compared to common light sources, the latest LED technologies have exceeded the capabilities of incandescent and halogen sources and are now starting to compete with fluorescent, mercury vapour, metal halide and sodium lighting sources. In addition to better energy usage, LEDs also have considerable advantages over traditional light sources such as longer working life and better durability.
Solid State Lighting (SSL) systems that incorporate LEDs have the potential to generate energy savings if the power sources used to power them are energy efficient as well.
Various energy efficiency standards have been developed for consumer products including external power supplies and lighting fixtures. The Energy Star Program created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently established industry wide requirements for Solid State Lighting (SSL) products. The principle energy efficiency metric used is the luminaire efficacy whereby luminaire efficacy is defined as net light output from the fixture divided by input power.
Therefore, there is provided a method and apparatus for a bootstrap startup and assist circuit.